Online Luggage Transfer Booking?

[Robo]

I've just started planning our brief Camino for 2016 from Sarria. I'm going to need to use a luggage transfer service for my wife. Well her backpack that is.....

I was never 100% sure of how the service operated when I had to use it last year. And my Spanish is not up to booking it on the phone. I tended to rely on my hosts to help out. I presume you had to call to confirm the pick up location and the drop off location.

But...I notice one host merely booked it online.

I looked at the Xacotrans website and could not see any online booking section.

Perhaps it was another service?

Any advice appreciated. Online booking would be the simplest option.

 

[mspath]

Robo,

The Spanish Correos or post office has such a system which you can book on line. See this web http://www.elcaminoconcorreos.es/

I used it last autumn after my fall. It was efficient, reliable and cheap.

Happy planning!

MM

 

[Robo]

Robo,

The Spanish Correos or post office has such a system which you can book on line. See this web http://www.elcaminoconcorreos.es/

I used it last autumn after my fall. It was efficient, reliable and cheap.

Happy planning!

MM

Many thanks. Though not sure my Spanish is up to that site. Looks a bit complicated

Interesting that it's actually more expensive than the commonly used services. e5 instead of e3 Not that it's a big deal. Just interesting...

 

[mspath]

There is a discount price available for a set series of times you use the service. I only used it twice from Ventosa to Navarra and from Navarra to Azofra. Although both times a helpful hospitalero used my phone to book the transport the Correos envelopes available in the albergues offer helpful how-to explanations in both Spanish and English.

Good luck!

 

[John Richard]

I've just started planning our brief Camino for 2016 from Sarria. I'm going to need to use a luggage transfer service for my wife. Well her backpack that is.....

I was never 100% sure of how the service operated when I had to use it last year. And my Spanish is not up to booking it on the phone. I tended to rely on my hosts to help out. I presume you had to call to confirm the pick up location and the drop off location.

But...I notice one host merely booked it online.

I looked at the Xacotrans website and could not see any online booking section.

Perhaps it was another service?

Any advice appreciated. Online booking would be the simplest option.

I've just started planning our brief Camino for 2016 from Sarria. I'm going to need to use a luggage transfer service for my wife. Well her backpack that is.....

I was never 100% sure of how the service operated when I had to use it last year. And my Spanish is not up to booking it on the phone. I tended to rely on my hosts to help out. I presume you had to call to confirm the pick up location and the drop off location.

But...I notice one host merely booked it online.

I looked at the Xacotrans website and could not see any online booking section.

Perhaps it was another service?

Any advice appreciated. Online booking would be the simplest option.

Hi Robo
Correos worked perfectly for my wife's pack with email You have to attach the delivery address tag on your pack for the driver to identify every time Perfect English on the phone and emails They even rang us on our mobile, an Australian no. when they could not find it one day.

 

[GettingThere]

I've just started planning our brief Camino for 2016 from Sarria. I'm going to need to use a luggage transfer service for my wife. Well her backpack that is.....

I was never 100% sure of how the service operated when I had to use it last year. And my Spanish is not up to booking it on the phone. I tended to rely on my hosts to help out. I presume you had to call to confirm the pick up location and the drop off location.

But...I notice one host merely booked it online.

I looked at the Xacotrans website and could not see any online booking section.

Perhaps it was another service?

Any advice appreciated. Online booking would be the simplest option.

Hi Robo
You can book online via the main Jacotrans.com site, including for the Sarria-Santiago section. It goes through to a site called Hike-Tech but it's Jacotrans/Xacotrans you're booking. I found it worked well. Apart from that you can email them in English and I also found everywhere we stayed they were happy to book for us (though some seemed to have a deal with another company). Good luck!

 

[Anniesantiago]

I've just started planning our brief Camino for 2016 from Sarria. I'm going to need to use a luggage transfer service for my wife. Well her backpack that is......

Robo, why do you want to book it online?
It's so simple to just book it from your hotel.
From Sarria forward, it's only €3-5 per stage, and every hotel, hostel, or albergue where I've stayed has had envelopes right there to fill out and attach to your bag.

 

[Robo]

I didn't always find it that simple Annie.

Due to injury I ended up getting a bag transferred along the whole CF. So having done it 40 times my experiences varied a bit.

Sometimes the host was very busy or in another distant building altogether and I felt I was being intrusive asking for their assistance with what should have been a simple task for me.

Others (85%) were of course delightful and very helpful.

I tried calling myself a couple of times but my Spanish just wasn't up to it.

Other hosts told me 'no need to book, they call here every day anyway'. As I mentioned one host booked it online for me.

So I ended up wondering what the process should be? And established it as:

Once you get to your lodging that night, someone needs to call to arrange the pick and drop off. Some places in the 100 kms of course get pickups every day anyway, so it would work without calling I guess.

So for our next Camino I thought that maybe online booking would simplify the whole process. I checked out the Hike-Tech site mentioned above. It's certainly easy to use, but sadly not all the locations we are planning to stay in are listed. And there is no 'free text' option to add alternatives. We're staying in quite a few intermediate 'hamlets' as my wife will probably only manage 10-12 kms per day due to her health.

Anyway, that was the reason for asking. To be able to make baggage bookings without needing assistance. Certainly Correos sounds like a viable option for Spanish 'incompetents' like me to just call them.

But I'll probably rely on the hosts assistance as before. I tend to think that using one of the two main baggage services, with their knowledge of the routes, all the pickup drop off places and so on, will potentially be a faster and more reliable service.

 

[jdpiguet]

Hi Robo,

Tackle the problem at the roots: take an intensive Spanish course!

Buen Camino,
Jacques-D.

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Rob,
I've never used a service myself, but I know that others have been very happy with Camino Facil. The owner is a forum member and speaks excellent English.

http://www.caminofacil.net

Buen camino, Laurie

 

[aliwalks]

I've just started planning our brief Camino for 2016 from Sarria. I'm going to need to use a luggage transfer service for my wife. Well her backpack that is.....

I was never 100% sure of how the service operated when I had to use it last year. And my Spanish is not up to booking it on the phone. I tended to rely on my hosts to help out. I presume you had to call to confirm the pick up location and the drop off location.

But...I notice one host merely booked it online.

I looked at the Xacotrans website and could not see any online booking section.

Perhaps it was another service?

Any advice appreciated. Online booking would be the simplest option.

I called or ha hostal call Jacotrans they were amazing even showed up at I am didn't call.

 

[Caminofácil]

Hi, Rob,
I've never used a service myself, but I know that others have been very happy with Camino Facil. The owner is a forum member and speaks excellent English.

Thanks a lot, Laurie!
(I should clarify, though, that I am not Javier, the owner of Caminofacil, but the person in charge of online operations (website development, social media...) of the company. Just to clear any doubts...)

Back to the subject, you can indeed book online through our website, http://www.caminofacil.net. Once you have booked all your stages, you can download some printable luggage tags from our website: print them and attach them to your luggage. Then you just have to leave your bags in your hostel/hotel/etc. every morning, and we will pick them up for you. And if you have some late-hour change of plans, you can log into our website and change the stages of your trip by yourself, without any need to speak spanish

If you have any other doubts, please post and I'll try to answer them.

 

[Robo]

Thanks a lot, Laurie!
(I should clarify, though, that I am not Javier, the owner of Caminofacil, but the person in charge of online operations (website development, social media...) of the company. Just to clear any doubts...)

Back to the subject, you can indeed book online through our website, http://www.caminofacil.net. Once you have booked all your stages, you can download some printable luggage tags from our website: print them and attach them to your luggage. Then you just have to leave your bags in your hostel/hotel/etc. every morning, and we will pick them up for you. And if you have some late-hour change of plans, you can log into our website and change the stages of your trip by yourself, without any need to speak spanish

If you have any other doubts, please post and I'll try to answer them.

This looks an easy website etc. but I won't be carrying a printer to print the tags

Do the accomodation places have your tags?

Booking all the pickups before leaving home is hardly practical. Most pilgrims using a service like this would only plan their stops one or two days ahead......

 

[Anemone del Camino]

A very well known and respected Camino person once told me that a particular company had been presuring albergues to only offer their enveloppes to people staying with them, or else they would refuse to bring bags to their albergue. And it was NOT Camino Facil. Food for thought while going deep into who you are, what your values are, and what other questions you hope the C.Will answer.

 

[Anniesantiago]

I should clarify.
I've used Caminofacil for years with no problems at all.
I use them for my group trips, which ARE planned out day by day ahead of time.
I haven't used the online service - I usually just deal directly with Javier.
They are affordable and I trust them with my pilgrims' bags.
For pilgrims like ours, being able to print out the tags ahead of time is awesome.

 

[Caminofácil]

This looks an easy website etc. but I won't be carrying a printer to print the tags

Do the accomodation places have your tags?

Booking all the pickups before leaving home is hardly practical. Most pilgrims using a service like this would only plan their stops one or two days ahead......

Just to clarify: you don't *have* to use the tags. They are convenient, but we will also pick up bags if you don't have them.

As for planning ahead, you can register on our website to change our order after you've made it, if you decide to go to another albergue or town. Or you can order your pickups on a day-by-day basis, as you mentioned.

 

[Robo]

Just to clarify: you don't *have* to use the tags. They are convenient, but we will also pick up bags if you don't have them.

As for planning ahead, you can register on our website to change our order after you've made it, if you decide to go to another albergue or town. Or you can order your pickups on a day-by-day basis, as you mentioned.

Certainly sounds like a service worth trying then

 

[Hal]

Is there a size/weight limit?

(I will be travelling pre- and post-!)

 

[Anniesantiago]

I used caminofacil online this year. It was great! English website and instructions/weight limits are on the website.

 

[Caminofácil]

Is there a size/weight limit?

(I will be travelling pre- and post-!)

Hello:

No, there isn't really a limit, within reason. For example, our maximum weight for each pack is 20 kg., but if your suitcase is 22 kg. there won't be a problem. Now, if your suitcase is 40kg... we might have to charge you the price of 2 packs.

The same applies to size: generally speaking, there are no limits, but if you are bringing a piano with you on the Camino...

If you have doubts or have any special needs, please contact us at contacto@caminofacil.net.

 

[Hal]

Fabulous, @Caminofácil! My 15kg bag and I will be very happy, whilst the piano will stay at home and be envious!